Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin offered a glimpse at his family life Thursday, confirming for the first time that he has grandchildren and saying he wants to keep them out of the spotlight so they can grow up “normally”.

“I have grandchildren. They live normal lives,” Putin said during his annual marathon TV call-in with Russians, confirming a revelation from a series of interviews by US filmmaker Oliver Stone that have been airing in the US this week.

Putin said that one grandchild was “already in preschool” and that “my second grandson was born recently”, which garnered applause in the studio.

But he said he did not want to identify them by name in order to let them live ordinary lives.

“The thing is, I don’t want them to grow up like hereditary princes, I want them to grow up to be normal people.”

“If I mention ages and names, they would be identified and never left alone,” he said.

Putin’s family life is a taboo subject in Russia, though media outlets have reported on one of his daughter’s business connections and marriage details, as well as her passion for acrobatic rock ‘n’ roll dance.

“My daughters are involved in science and education, they don’t get involved in any politics,” Putin said.

The Russian leader divorced his wife Lyudmila in 2014 and she has since vanished from public view. There has been no news regarding his personal life since, but his official tax declaration does not mention any spouse.

Other comments on:

CENTRAL BANK KEY RATE “I hope the central bank will keep acting carefully when it comes to the key rate, but acting towards key rate decrease.” “Why the central bank is acting carefully? Our economy depends on the hydrocarbons sale. The oil (price) has recently grew above $50, while today it is already at $48 ... Most important for us is not the key rate per se, but that the rate doesn’t change sharply.”

DEMOGRAPHY “We have to think about incentive measures for young mothers who give birth to their first child.” “A complex of measures is needed (to boost demography).”

THE ECONOMY AND INFLATION “What does the objective data show? It shows that recession in the Russian economy is over. We have moved to the period of growth.” “We have witnessed growth for three consecutive quarters.” “We have seen a decline in real incomes of citizens for the past few years. And the increase in the number of people who live below the poverty line is especially worrisome.” “We have the lowest inflation in (recent years). Today, it’s 4.1 per cent, we have never seen it. This shows that we have all grounds to believe that we will reach 4 per cent inflation target this year.”